Trump to attend virtual G-20 summit amid coronavirus outbreak

President TrumpDonald John Trump Romney on Trump’s Election Tactics: ‘Hard to Imagine Worse, More Undemocratic Action’ by President New York Expands Investigations into Trump’s Tax Evasion to Include Cancellations: Biden Report Promises Government federal will pay for National Guard work on coronavirus: ‘This should be paid for more will appear at the virtual summit of the Group of 20 (G-20) this weekend, the White House said, as world leaders grapple with an increase in coronavirus cases around the world.

Trump will attend the summit on Saturday and Sunday, according to a schedule released by the White House Friday night. It is not known exactly which events the president will attend.

The group’s summit, made up of 19 major global economies and the European Union, went live this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. King Salman of Saudi Arabia will chair the summit, which was originally scheduled to be held in Riyadh.

Trump’s summit appearance comes as he refuses to accept president-elect Joe bidenJoe BidenRomney on Trump’s election tactics: President Biden’s’ hard to imagine worse, more undemocratic action ‘promises federal government will pay for National Guard coronavirus work:’ It should be paid for ” House committee chairs demand briefing from GSA chief on presidential transition MOREs election victory earlier this month and as his campaign seeks to overturn the results.

The president has made few appearances since the November 3 election, with his latest public remarks focusing on bragging about the efforts of the coronavirus vaccine administration and announcing actions to lower the price of prescription drugs .

During remarks at the White House Rose Garden last Friday, Trump said his administration would not advocate a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus and has apparently pushed back the incoming Biden administration to implement such a restriction.

Biden on Thursday vowed not to implement a nationwide lockdown to bring COVID-19 under control, saying, “I’m not going to shut down the economy, period. I will stop the virus.”

Trump’s appearance at the virtual meeting of world leaders this weekend comes as the coronavirus rages around the world, with more than 57 million cases reported worldwide and nearly 1.37 million deaths.

In the United States, more than 11.9 million cases have been recorded this year while more than 254,000 people have died, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

When leaders joined an emergency G-20 teleconference earlier this year to discuss the global response to coronaviruses, the number of cases worldwide topped 500,000 with just under 20,000 deaths linked to the disease .

The growing number of cases in the United States has prompted New York City to close schools for in-person learning and led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to recommend against traveling on Thanksgiving.

This weekend’s summit will mark one of Trump’s last appearances with other world leaders before stepping down in January. Leaders of a number of U.S. allies congratulated Biden and spoke to him by phone after his election victory.

Trump interacted with various leaders at the G-20 summit last year, when he drew attention for joking about “fake news” while sitting alongside the Russian president. Vladimir PoutineVladimir Vladimirovich Putin The Marshmallow New Media in the Biden Era How to Tackle Putin’s Financial Aggression By Reversing ‘America First’ Biden Needs a Multilateral Strategy MORE and posed alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the summit’s “family photo” that year.